Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

shoes and put them neatly by the desk in his office. Johnson
did the same and then waited while Bernard opened the closet,
turned on the overhead light, and took out a box.
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Johnson said.
Bernard hesitated, holding the box in front of him like a kid
disappointed in a Christmas present. Johnson retraced his
steps. Bernard looked at him. He opened his mouth but the
look on Johnson’s face told him all he needed to know. The
big man wanted this wrapped up and he wasn’t going to take
no for an answer.
***
The night girl was upset and scared. She was more scared than
she was upset because the road seemed to disappear and
reappear with no particular rhyme or reason. Even though she
knew she wasn’t near the cliffs, now and again she would
throw the steering wheel one way or the other believing that
she was just about to sail over the edge of one. She wondered
where her friend was. Maybe she was already safe at Ha Kuna
House. Or maybe she was smart and had stayed home all
together.
The night girl sobbed. She sat in her car crying, her hands
on the wheel, trying to decide if she should go forward or
back. She decided to go forward since it was six of one and
half a dozen of the other. She stepped on the gas. The mud was
too deep, and her tires too old to gain traction.
“Oh God! Oh God!”
The night girl muttered and wept and wept and muttered as
she stared into the Hawaiian darkness, cringed under the wrath
of the Hawaiian storm, and wondered if she was going to die
of fright.